Annabelle and James’s Wirral Wedding

Thornton Manor in Thornton Hough (Wirral) has proven to be a very popular North West wedding venue over the years for me and it’s so easy to see why!

Annabelle and James were planning their wedding in the Wirral from London and would try and squeeze in all their planning meetings during their wedding visits up north. All the effort paid off as it really was a beautiful wedding and the little touches really did make the difference…

[reveal heading=”%image% Click here to read more and see their wedding highlights film”]

Annabelle got ready with her bridesmaids at her parents home in Blundellsands. I had the warmest welcome from Annabelle’s Mum with a hot cup of tea while I waited for the girls to come back from the hairdressers! They arrived like a whirlwind and it was full steam ahead with make-up taking over most of the upstairs rooms. The guys got ready over at the Radisson Blu in Liverpool and my poor assistant timed it just in time for the showers. A lot of their travelling guests were staying there so as they got ready to leave the rooms were bursting with well dressed wedding guests!

Their ceremony took place at St Joseph’s Church just round the corner from Annabelle’s parents home. The guys arrived just in time to welcome their guests and the well prepared ushers got to work directing them to their seats and giving out the order of ceremony sheets. This bit always flies by and before we knew it Annabelle was also making her way to the church. With such a long aisle it was no wonder the bridal party got a little nervous before they made their way to the groom…

The service went perfectly and the bride and groom headed back up the aisle as the guests snapped away on their smart phones and cameras. The sun was shining as they chatted to guests so they had a quick confetti shot with their guests before heading off to Thornton Manor.

They arrived to a few spots of rain but that didn’t last long and guests were soon ushered out to have some group shots in Thornton Manors gardens. Their wedding photographer, Lisa Aldersley, and I then snuck off with the couple to get some lovely couple portraits at the other end of the grounds away from prying guests.

The wedding breakfast is always highly anticipated, not only for the food but also because we all know the speeches aren’t too far away! The father of the bride did well at topping the record for longest speech before the groom did his best to make his beautiful bride feel very special. The comedy duo of best men then went on to do a very good job of making the room laugh and even had a few rude stories from the stag do to share…

The evening started off with a beautiful first dance to Elvis before Annabelle was then asked to dance with her Dad to a song he’d requested (super sweet). Groovy Revolution then really kicked off the party and got the dancefloor full so we could capture some really funky dance moves before heading off to leave the guests partying away!

"We watched the film about 4 times back to back on Wednesday night and again tonight. I haven't emailed before now because I was looking for the right words.... and I'm still not sure I… (Read more)" Gemma and Ian